PSYCHOSOCIAL WELL-BEING AND COGNITION AMONG OLDER ADULTS IN A LATE LIFE LEARNING PROGRAM IN LEBANON

Abstract Growing evidence suggests that engaging in cognitively stimulating activities across the lifecourse is associated with improved health. However, very few studies have evaluated the benefits of late life learning (LLL), especially in the low- and middle-income country setting. We designed a prospective cohort study to evaluate whether LLL is associated with better cognition among older Lebanese and related underlying mechanism. The University for Seniors (UfS) is an established and ongoing LLL program at the American University of Beirut, since 2012, providing cognitively and socially enriching activities (e.g., lectures, study groups, social and cultural events) to older adults, aged 50 and above. Our study will select 700 members (both previous longer-term members and new enrollees) and recruit a comparison group composed of 700 age-, sex-, and education-matched non-UfS-participating community residents. Participants will be interviewed on various topics at baseline and at a two-year follow-up visit. Older Lebanese are exposed to a host of lifecourse psychosocial adversities. We developed a questionnaire to capture their life history such as war-related exposures and economic changes due to recent financial crises. We will also measure participants’ psychological well-being including social network and support, ageism, resilience, hopelessness, loneliness. The challenges of adapting psychosocial scales and capturing lifecourse collective and individual adversities in a particularly burdened low-resourced settings and contextual complexity will be presented. With comprehensive data on LLL and lifecourse adversities, we will be able to examine the potential for scalable low-cost LLL programs to mitigate the impacts of earlier and accumulated psychosocial adversities on cognition.

Neuroimaging biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are well-validated in White populations.However, it remains unclear how these biomarkers are associated with cognition in non-White populations disproportionately affected by systemic socioeconomic discrimination.We investigated whether neighborhood disadvantage modifies associations of neuroimaging biomarkers with cognition in a diverse cohort of 198 adults ≥50 years, 50% of whom are Black.Outcomes included cognitive impairment and neuropsychological test scores.Predictors were indices of neurodegeneration, vascular damage, and brain amyloid burden, quantified using MR-based measures of cortical thickness and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and [11C]PiB PET, respectively.We measured neighborhood disadvantage using area deprivation index (ADI), a composite measurement of socioeconomic conditions in a census tract.In linear models, higher ADI, neurodegeneration, and WMH were separately associated with worse cognition.We found an ADI*neurodegeneration interaction on delayed recall memory (p=0.08).Neurodegeneration-positive participants had worse story delayed recall compared to neurodegeneration-negative regardless of ADI (β=-1.57,p=0.01).In neurodegeneration-negative participants, higher ADI is associated with worse delayed recall (β=-0.04,p=0.004): those with a high ADI exhibited low delayed recall, comparable to neurodegenerationpositive participants.ADI was not associated with cognition in neurodegeneration-positive participants.WMH and ADI interacted in models of impairment, visual memory, and visual copy (interaction p's< 0.10).In those with high ADI, greater WMH was associated with worse cognition (β=-0.30,p=0.02) while participants with low ADI scored well regardless of WMH volume.Taken together, the relationship between neuroimaging biomarkers and cognition differs by neighborhood socioeconomic conditions, highlighting the need for clinical strategies that acknowledge structural disadvantage.
Growing evidence suggests that engaging in cognitively stimulating activities across the lifecourse is associated with improved health.However, very few studies have evaluated the benefits of late life learning (LLL), especially in the low-and middle-income country setting.We designed a prospective cohort study to evaluate whether LLL is associated with better cognition among older Lebanese and related underlying mechanism.The University for Seniors (UfS) is an established and ongoing LLL program at the American University of Beirut, since 2012, providing cognitively and socially enriching activities (e.g., lectures, study groups, social and cultural events) to older adults, aged 50 and above.Our study will select 700 members (both previous longer-term members and new enrollees) and recruit a comparison group composed of 700 age-, sex-, and education-matched non-UfS-participating community residents.Participants will be interviewed on various topics at baseline and at a twoyear follow-up visit.Older Lebanese are exposed to a host of lifecourse psychosocial adversities.We developed a questionnaire to capture their life history such as war-related exposures and economic changes due to recent financial crises.We will also measure participants' psychological well-being including social network and support, ageism, resilience, hopelessness, loneliness.The challenges of adapting psychosocial scales and capturing lifecourse collective and individual adversities in a particularly burdened low-resourced settings and contextual complexity will be presented.With comprehensive data on LLL and lifecourse adversities, we will be able to examine the potential for scalable low-cost LLL programs to mitigate the impacts of earlier and accumulated psychosocial adversities on cognition.
Abstract citation ID: igad104.3769The difference (eGFRDiff) between cystatin C-based estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFRcys) and creatinine based eGFR (eGFRcr) has been shown to be associated with frailty and mortality, but its association with cognition is unclear.Among 4,764 adults aged ≥ 65 from the Cardiovascular Health Study, we analyzed eGFRDiff per 1-SD lower (18.6 mL/ min/1.73m2).Cognitive function was evaluated annually using the Modified Mini Mental State Exam (3MS; range 0-100), and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST; range 0-90); higher scores mean better performance.We used linear regression for cross-sectional analyses, and mixed models for longitudinal analyses adjusted for demographic and clinical variables.The mean age was 72.2 ±, the mean eGFRDiff was 0.64, and mean follow-up was 4.4 ± years.eGFRDiff was not associated with 3MS at baseline.Each SD lower eGFRDiff at baseline was associated with a 0.82 [95% CI: -1.22, -0.42] lower DSST score.In longitudinal analyses each SD lower eGFRDiff was associated with a significant 0.06 [95% CI: -0.11, -0.01] faster decline in 3MS scores and a 0.04 [95% CI: -0.08, -0.01] faster decline in DSST scores over time.In older adults, we found that lower eGFRDiff was associated with lower cognitive scores at baseline, and associated with more rapid decline over time.This suggests that eGFRDiff could be used clinically as a laboratory-based screen to identify older adults in need for cognitive assessment.

LATE BREAKING: APPLYING PRINCIPLES TO REFRAME AGING IN YOUR WORK
Abstract citation ID: igad104.3770

ADMIRATION, SKEPTICISM, INDECISIVENESS? ATTITUDES TOWARD AI IN CHINESE MIDDLE-AGED AND OLDER ADULTS
Bobo Hi-po Lau 1 , Eric Ngai Yin Shum 2 , Fan Yin-Fong Lui 2 , Gigi Lam 2 , Alex Pak-Ki Kwok 3 , and Chung-Kin Tsang 1 , 1. Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong,2. Hong Kong Shue Yan University,Hong Kong,Hong Kong,3. The Chinese University of Hong Kong,Hong Kong,Hong Kong In recent years, AI is increasingly visible in daily lives from chatbots in banking apps and SIRI, and generative AI such as ChatGPT, to more controversial usage concerning facial recognition, online surveillance, and even self-driving cars.Attitudes toward AI may predict acceptance of AI-facilitated applications and the Web 3.0 at-large.In June 2023, we conducted a survey with 750 smartphone users aged 45 years or older (Max = 78) in Hong Kong as a part of a wider effort to elucidate the digital divide post-pandemic.Using principal component analysis with varimax rotation, we found three components from the General Attitude to Artificial Intelligence Scale -Negative, Positive, and Powerful (compared to humans).Subsequently, with latent profile analysis we revealed three profiles: (i) Admiration (18.4%; high on positive and powerful but low on negative); (ii) Skepticism (12.3%; high on negative but low on positive and powerful), and (iii) Indecisiveness (69.3%; moderate on all three components).Admiration was more likely to be male, with higher income, better self-rated health, and greater mobile device proficiency, optimism, innovativeness, but also insecurity with technology, compared to Indecisiveness, and then Skepticism.Corroborating these quantitative findings, AI, or generative AI in specific, were only sparsely featured in a concurrent focus group study on smartphone usage with a similar cohort of smartphone users.Those who mentioned were appreciative of their superior power to provide information beyond traditional search engines; yet apprehension toward associated fraud and deception was also highlighted.

REDUCING BENEVOLENT AGEISM AMONG UNDERGRADUATE HEALTHCARE MAJOR STUDENTS IN A GERONTOLOGY CLASS
Jiawei Cao, and Jialin Cui, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China (People's Republic) While gerontologists have devoted continuing efforts to combating ageism through education and interventions, benevolent ageism remains to be a more subtle and covert